342 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 27, 1894. 
COMMON VEGETABLES: 
THEIR ORIGIN AND VALUE AS FOOD. 
In a recent lecture on this subject at the Richmond 
Athenaeum, Professor, Henslow said :—The value of 
vegetables was very important to know. They knew, 
of course, that a piece of beef did them more good 
than a potato, but it was interesting, also, to know 
the reasons. To begin with our common vegetables 
were supplied by roots, stems, leaves, flower buds, 
fruits, and seeds; and he would select a few as 
typical from each kind. Commencing with the 
Turnip, this vegetable was believed to be identical 
with the Rape, both being varieties of Brassica 
campestris, a plant found wild from Europe to 
Siberia. M. Carriere said that everything tended 
to become hereditary and referred to some illustra¬ 
tions which the Turnip had passed through, showing 
that the long-rooted ones were originally grown in a 
loose soil, while the shorter-rooted variety were 
grown in a stiff soil which offered obstruction to the 
roots. The thick-rooted forms are of West European 
origin. This plant was cultivated by the ancients, 
though their descriptions of it appeared sometimes 
to include the Radish, and even perhaps the Beet. 
In nutritive value, the Turnip was very poor, the 
nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements together 
contained in it being only four per cent. The 
Raphanus sativus, or Radish, had been cultivated 
from the earliest ages, and therefore its natural home 
could not be detected with certainty. Herodotus 
said he saw (5th century b.c.) Radishes, Onions, and 
Garlic mentioned on the Great Pyramid as supplied 
to the builders. That would probably be between 
3,000 and 4,000 years b.c. M. Carriere had proved 
that the Radish could be derived from the wild 
Raphanus Raphanistrum of Europe. He moreover 
found that the seeds produced long-rooted forms 
when sown in light soils and Turnip forms when 
sown in a stiff soil. Pliny seemed to allude to a 
similar fact (ist century a.d.), for he asserted that 
growers in his day made deep holes filled with chaff 
and well-manured soil ; the Radish would then grow 
down and fill the hole. 
Mr. Henslow then considered some of the legu¬ 
minous plants, the Lentil (Ervum Lens), the Bean 
(Faba vulgaris), the Kidney Bean (Phaseolus vars), 
and the Pea (Pisum sativum). These vegetables 
were all remarkable for their high nutritive value, 
which rose in them to more or less about 80 per 
cent., the nitrogenous portions of their compound 
being about 20 to 25 per cent.—a result due partly to 
the small amount and the high percentage of nitro¬ 
gen; hence the great value of these vegetables as 
flesh-formers. Professor Henslow, speaking of the 
value of vegetables as dietetics, referred to the work 
of Professor Church, who had analysed a great 
number of them, and which analyses were un¬ 
doubtedly the ones to which we should refer. In all 
the food we ate there were three things which the 
human body required. One food was farinaceous, 
and the bulk of that was starch. Then they had 
the oleaginous, which was represented principally 
by butter in the animal kingdom, and oil—such as 
Olive oil—in the vegetable kingdom. Finally came 
the nitrogenous. This was the most important of 
all elements in our food, for if it did not possess 
that element, the waste which was always going on 
could not be restored ; if in fact we were to leave all 
nitrogenous food alone we should die. The lecturer 
then gave some of the analyses previously referred 
to. He mentioned that the numbers indicated the 
amount of real food in the articles. Peas had about 
eighty per cent.. Beans eighty-two. Lentils eighty- 
six, Oatmeal eighty-nine, while Potatos had no more 
than twenty-seven. 
What was known as Revalenta arabica food was 
largely composed of Lentils, and therefore most 
valuable for restoring waste. When millers ground 
their corn they sifted the flour into three different 
kinds. There was the firsts, or the whitest, which 
was much sought after; the seconds, which made 
fairly good household bread ; and the third consisted 
of the outer parts. The purest and whitest bread 
was composed almost entirely of starch, and there¬ 
fore was practically innutritions. The whiter the 
bread the less nourishment they would get out of it. 
The household bread had a good deal of the nitro¬ 
genous element mixed with starch, and there they 
had a fair combination. But whole meal or brown 
bread was best, because in it was the due proportion 
of bran, which in the other sorts they did not get. 
The difficulty of digesting bran was an almost 
insuperable obstacle. Our way of grinding corn by 
crushing it flattened the bran, and it could not well 
be digested. There was, however, a mode of 
grinding grain after the manner of a Coffee mill. 
The Wheat was then ground up so small that the 
whole nourishment was brought out of it. That 
was known as Wheat meal, to distinguish it from 
whole meal. He in fact knew a family who had 
lived on it for years. Salads went for nothing better 
than the supply of mineral matter with which to 
make bones. When the vegetables used in salads 
were boiled, those important salts were also boiled 
out. Experiments had been made to ascertain the 
length of time that certain articles took in digesting. 
It was ascertained that the form of starch ingre¬ 
dients in vegetables required two hours. Beans two 
and a half hours, Apple dumplings three hours. 
Carrots three h ours fifteen minutes, boiled Potatos 
three and a half hours. Cabbage, which is fibrous, 
four hours. 
With regard to Carrots, M. Vilmorin showed how, 
by sowing the seed of the wild form, which was an 
annual, late in autumn, he succeeded in converting 
it into a biennial; at the same time it became the 
“ ennobled ” garden form. Of underground stems, 
the Potato might be taken as an example. It was 
found by the Spaniards already cultivated in South 
America in the fifteenth century. They introduced 
it into Spain and Italy, but it was not known in the 
western countries of Europe until 100 years after¬ 
wards. Bauhin in the sixteenth century first named 
it Solanum tuberosum, it having been called, as 
mentioned by Gerarde (1597), Papae hispanicus or 
Battata virginiana; he having received it from the 
colonists at Virginia, who doubtless must have 
obtained it from Spain. The name Potato was a cor¬ 
ruption from battata; Ipomoea battata was the name, 
of " Sweet Potato,” a plant of the Convolvulus family. 
Our Potato was a native of the higher lands of Peru, 
while a species which Mr. Darwin found on the 
lower land near the sea on the west coast, and which 
was thought to be the original species, was really S. 
Maglia. Messrs. Sutton, the seedsmen, were con¬ 
ducting interesting experiments in hybridisation 
between these two species, and had already 
obtained some very hopeful results. As an article 
of diet, the Potato did not stand high, for it con¬ 
tained only about i per cent, of nitrogenous matter, 
but it contained 15 per cent, of starch, and hence its 
value as an adjunct to meat. 
Of foliage plants the cabbage stood foremost. 
Brassica oleracea, a native of our chalk cliffs, was 
the origin of the Cabbage. Several varieties of this 
vegetable were known to the ancients, but the 
number at the present day was of course very much 
greater. The varieties of the Cabbage might be 
grouped into the compact head-like form, the open 
Coleworts, the Brussel Sprouts, the crisped-leaved 
varieties, the Kohl-rabi with a swollen stem, and the 
Cauliflower type. Gerarde described a form in 
which the midribs developed little out-growths. 
This departure occurred occasionally now, sometimes 
like tubular funnels, but it was regarded as due to 
hypertrophy, similar to the effects observed upon 
the fringed Daffodils and Cyclamen flowers. A form 
of Cabbage akin to the Brussel Sprouts appeared to 
have been known to Pliny in the first century of the 
Christian era. Various plants used as salads were 
then described by Professor Henslow, such as the 
Endive, still wild in Egypt, etc. This plant was one 
of the "bitter herbs” of Scripture. It was the 
foliage of Cichorium endivia, a variety of, or 
perhaps a distinct species from, C. intybus, the 
Chicory, or succory. Parsley, a native of South 
Europe, and Spinach were also alluded to. 
-HH"- 
CYPRIPEDIUMS AT 
SOUTH ORANGE. 
To lovers of Cypripediums there is scarcely any 
private collection in America that is so extensive and 
so interesting as that belonging to Mr. Henry 
Greaves, of South Orange, New Jersey. Indeed, as 
a collection of beautiful and rare species and 
varieties it may be claimed to be unique, while the 
standard of cultivation maintained by the able 
gardener, Mr. Robert M. Grey, is of the highest 
order. At the present time there are 472 distinct 
species and varieties in the collection, besides 
innumerable seedlings just coming into flower and 
unflowered from amongst which some fine things 
are anticipated. 
Mr. Grey has been very successful as a hybridist 
for some long time past, and, ere long, some most in¬ 
teresting results of his crossings among Orchids will 
assuredly be the outcome of his labours. At any 
rale, we shall watch the development of his many 
seedlings with much interest. At the time of my 
visit, among the Cypripediums in bloom were C. 
Browni leucoglossom. Short Hills var., a cross 
between C. magniflorum and C. leucorhodum, with 
large flowers, the whole showing a porcelain-like 
surface of white and rose-pink, and the pouch 
pure white; C. Cybele, Greys var.; C. Godsefifi- 
anum, a very fine form with the petals shaded rose 
and the pouch dark and broad; C. Niobe, Veitch’s 
var.; C. Juno, very rare; C. Maynardi splendens, 
with three flowers, having the dorsal sepal vinous 
purple, dark sepals, and a cheerful pick pouch : C. 
Cleola, very pretty, dorsal sepal pure white, and the 
petals marbled with pink; a cross between C. 
reticulata and C. Schlimii; C. Cydippe, very rare ; 
C. Ernesti, a very bright golden colour, lip margined 
with white; a fine form of C. Sedeni, Grey’s var., 
differing from the type in having a bright cardinal 
pouch ; C. Hebe, a cross between C. Stonei and C. 
Spicerianum, combining the colours of both parents 
in a remarkable manner; C. Charles Canham, with 
an enormous bloom ; C. H. Ballantine, just opening ; 
a seedling just opening is a cross between C. 
Lathamianum and C. Roezlii roseum ; C. Callosa. 
Argus is a very fine seedling named by Mr. Grey ; the 
form is as large as the typical C. Argus, with the 
dorsal sepal translucent with green radiating veins, 
petals green, with vinous tinted apices, and the 
margin studded with large dark callosities, and the 
pouch vinous brown. 
I must not omit reference to a very fine batch of 
sixty-five plants of C. Chamberlainianum which are 
exceedingly fine, but show much variation in the 
form of the leaves in length, colour, and width. 
Other Orchids are also well done at South Orange, but 
a note on them must remain over for another occasion 
While looking through the Orchid houses with Mr. 
Grey, he raised a question of much importance to 
raisers of new varieties here, viz., who is to be 
looked upon as the recognised authority for naming 
and describing new Orchids ? He would be willing 
to send novelties for this purpose to any English 
authority if such a one can be named. At present 
there seems to be three or four persons at the work, 
without a Reichenbach among them, and he does 
not know whose line to follow.— Am. Cor. 
-- 
(Gardening Miscellany. 
BEGONIA GLOIRE DE LORRAINE. 
This new winter flowering Begonia will prove to be 
a valuable acquisition, and one which is sure to find 
its way in public favour once it is better known. It 
is a most profuse and continuous flowerer, and the 
habit is all that can be desired. The flowers are of 
a rich rose colour deepening to darker rose at the 
margins; and unlike most of the winter flowering 
Begonias, it does not readily drop its blossoms. I 
saw a fine plant of it in one of the stoves in Mr. 
Forhes’ Nursery at Hawick, lately, which was 
literally smothered with bloom, and had been so for 
over two months. Some of the oldest flowers were 
fading off something after the style of a Hydrangea, 
clinging with tenacity to the last. This as far as 
my experience goes is rather appreciable in a 
Begonia. It was awarded a First-class Certificate by 
the R.H.S. last year.— IF. 5 . 
CHORIZEMA LAWRENCEANUM. 
The habit and general appearance of this plant 
would lead one to suppose it to be a hybrid between 
C. cordatum and C. ilicifolium. It has the free and 
twiggy habit of the former, with the dark green 
leaves of the latter, but not its stiff and slow grow¬ 
ing habit, while in shape the leaves are intermediate. 
The flowers are produced in great profusion in 
terminal and axillary racemes. The standard is 
orange, with a crimson base surrounding a yellow 
eye-like spot. The petals are obovate, and of a deep 
carmine. The strong contrast of two intense colours 
makes the plant attractive, and when to those are 
added the slender, twiggy character of the stems, the 
whole plant is very graceful indeed. The greenhouse 
